Benjamín Fernández is a Knight International Journalism Fellow who led a project in Mexico to defend free expression.

Project Goal: Work with new civic organization dedicated to free expression. The new organization helps journalists use Mexico's access-to-information law and master their legal rights in a society where the media are harassed with impunity.

Fernández has been the director of Radio Libre, a media consultant on governance and communication law, and a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He was a Neiman Fellow and a Humphrey Fellow at the University of Syracuse (New York).

In addition to being a lawyer, he is a journalist who has worked as a columnist for Ultima Hora and Le Monde Diplomatique (Mexican edition), and news manager for the Sistema Nacional de Television – Channel 9. Fernández also was a member of the National Constitutional Congress of Paraguay and founder of the Union of Journalists of Paraguay. He is fluent in English, Guarani, Portuguese and Spanish.

Fernández has a PhD in law and social science from the Universidad Nacional in Asuncion, Paraguay. He also has a Masters Degree in Communications and Law from the University of Minnesota, where he had a Fulbright fellowship. Contact: benjaminfernandezb@hotmail.com

Partner Organization: Fundación para la Libertad de Expresión